August 2021

FAScinate is a play on the word “Fascinate” combined with the abbreviation of the title for Academy of Sciences Malaysia Fellows (FASc). Befitting the title itself, this programme features new ASM Fellows who will fascinate and educate the audience with insights into the Fellow’s expertise and experience. Previously called ASM Fellows’ Lecture Series, the rebranding of this intellectual series follows ASM’s 25th Anniversary. FAScinate features a renewed format, transitioning from a formal lecture style into a more casual engagement that is hoped to garner more public interest in science.

12 August 2021 marks the International Youth Day that is celebrated annually to celebrate young people’s voices, actions and spark meaningful engagement from youths across the globe. In line with this year’s official theme from the UN, “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health”, the Mahathir Science Award Foundation, the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and the International Science Council Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has organised the 13th webinar in the “Future Belongs to the Tropics” series, titled “Youth Innovation For Human And Planetary Health” as one of the pre-conference events for the International Conference of Tropical Sciences (TropSc 2021).

A webinar titled “Transcending the Arts and Sciences” was held on 28 August 2021 under the banner of the ASM ArtScience™ initiative. A welcome remark was delivered by Ar Hijjas Kasturi, co-chair of the 2020 ASM ArtScience™ Prize Task Force. A sharing session was then conducted with the winners of the 2020 ASM ArtScience™ Prize, moderated by Academician Emerita Professor Dato’’ Seri Dr Mazlan Othman FASc.

The Malaysian National Day was also punctuated with the Opening Ceremony and Announcement of the Semi Finalists for the 2021 National Science Challenge. The 2021 NSC is organised in collaboration with strategic partners such as the Ministry of Education Malaysia, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology Centre, or CREST for short, and the Malaysian Society for Microbiology. The excellent Young Scientists Network-ASM was on board to strategise the concept and content of NSC, while Sasbadi Online Sdn Bhd acted as the technology partner.